Ask HN: What did you purchase that measurably improved your quality of life?

Re:Ask HN: What did you purchase that measurably improved yo... by statquontrarian on Sunday October 18, 2020 @01:22PM (#24819435)

Books. A few handfuls of them, combined, made a magnitude of a difference in my quality of life.

An incredible amount of similar content is available now in video and text form for free, but I think that the same ideas non-book form wouldn't have had the same impact on me.

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Re:Ask HN: What did you purchase that measurably improved yo... by nestorD on Sunday October 18, 2020 @01:41PM (#24819636)

My variation on that is realizing that I know have enough money to buy the expensive, specialized, books I want to read without having to debate it with myself.

Getting one or two book I love every month fills me with both joy and knowledge.

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Re:Ask HN: What did you purchase that measurably improved yo... by znpy on Sunday October 18, 2020 @08:04PM (#24822180)

My variation on that is realizing that I can now buy the more or less expensive books that I downloaded illegally when I was a teenager.

Most people in the publishing industry don't realise that I probably wouldn't have got into the industry or wouldn't have reached my current level without some pirated books.

I can now afford without many problems to spend 60+ euros on a book and I'm doing it. Not often, but I'm doing it (books take time to read :) ).

My last purchase was advanced programming in the Unix environment (~65 euros), about one month ago, I'm currently at about page 200 out of ~970.

O'Reilly is going to get so much money from me in the next years... They kinda deserve them lol.

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Re:Ask HN: What did you purchase that measurably improved yo... by macobo on Sunday October 18, 2020 @01:30PM (#24819530)

Examples, suggestions?

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Re:Ask HN: What did you purchase that measurably improved yo... by statquontrarian on Sunday October 18, 2020 @02:11PM (#24819873)

I've never created a reading list, so this was a fun exercise.

Programming:

* Analyzing Computer System Performance with Perl::PDQ - Gunther

* The Mythical Man Month - Brooks

Philosophy:

* A Journey Around my Room - de Maistre

* Anger, Mercy, and Revenge - Seneca

* Schrödinger - What is Life?

* Man's Search for Meaning - Frankl

* Essays - Montaigne

* Ethical Intuitionism - Huemer

* The Consolations of Philosophy - de Botton

* A Manual for Living - Epictetus

* Meditations - Aurelius

Psychology / Meaning / Purpose / Science:

* Purpose and Meaning in the Workplace - Dik, Byrne & Steger

* The Case Against Education - Caplan

* Selfish Reasons to Have More Kids - Caplan

* Dawkins - The Selfish Gene

* A Confession - Tolstoy

* Enlightenment Now - Pinker

* The Better Angels of our Nature - Pinker

* The Improving State of the World - Goklany

* The Skeptical Environmentalist - Lomborg

* Religion for Atheists - de Botton

* Ending Aging - de Grey

* Gut Feelings - Gigirenzer

Fiction:

* Heart of Darkness - Conrad

* Candide - Voltaire

* Brave New World - Huxley

* Selected Works - Goethe

* 1984 & Animal Farm - Orwell

Politics:

* Obedience to Authority - Milgram

* The Problem of Political Authority - Huemer

* The Communist Manifesto - Marx

* Socialism - von Mises

* Just One Child - Greenhalgh

* The God That Failed - Crossman

* Death by Government - Rummel

Thought-provoking:

* Free to Learn - Gray

* The Beautiful Tree - Tooley

* Education and the State - West

* The Machinery of Freedom - Friedman

* Against Intellectual Monopoly - Boldrine & Levine

* From Mutual Aid to the Welfare State - Beito

* The Not So Wild, Wild West - Hill

* More Guns, Less Crime - Lott

* Race & Economics - Williams

* Emancipating Slaves, Enslaving Free Men - Hummel

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Re:Ask HN: What did you purchase that measurably improved yo... by 97amarnathk on Sunday October 18, 2020 @01:30PM (#24819534)

What books would you recommend one must read?

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